Rare 17th Century Silver Pocket Watch by Joseph Windmills
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A rare silver paired-cased pocket watch, maker Joseph Windmills English circa 1678 4.5 cm diameter, 5.5 cm high, case diameter 5.2 cm. A rare silver paired-cased pocket watch, maker Joseph Windmills. English circa 1678. Plain silver outer case, 52 mm diameter, with early square hinge. The inner plain silver case has a stirrup bow, and split bezel. The silver champleve dial has Roman numerals, centred by a one-piece rosette, a finely shaped single hand, and a brass edge. The movement bears a full signature and a balance cock with its table openly pieced (to show the newly introduced balance spring?) and decorated with an English rose centre and open Dutch tulips, and with decorated rim, with its foot very open but no longer oval in shape. the balance wheel is steel, three arm, with a spring of 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 turns. verge escapement with eight turn fusee and chain drive, and a spring barrel said to be of about the earliest date at which makers stopped flanging barrels at bottom as well as at top. The pillars are exotically scrolled open tulip style. Provenance: Purchased by Norman Dean at Sotheby's London 27 November 1972 for 800 Pounds (lot 216). One of only a very few watches to be illustrated and mentioned in the introduction to the catalogue. Reference: Britten lists Joseph Windmills as a great clockmaker who was made a brother of the Clockmakers Company in 1671 and Master in 1702, "well known as good maker clocks and watches". Neale in his book says "A minute book of the Clockmakers Company has the earliest mention of Joseph Windmills so far. At its Quarter Court meeting on 29 September 1671, 'Joseph Windmills a great clockmaker was admitted and sworn Brother of this Company. ' His trade, year of entry and status in the Company was the same as that of Thomas Tompion and of Daniel Quare. To be admitted in this way, not by a CC apprenticeship, implies that each of them was already free of some other Company, with some experience as a turret or church clock-maker. Their parent companies have not been identified". A fine maker represented in major Museums and many collections. This watch is illustrated and discussed in J.A Neale's book 'Windmills Clocks and Watches', at pages 80 Neale said: "He knew of only one earlier Windmills Watch that is in the Watchmakers Collection in the London Guildhall.". Dimensions: 4.5 cm diameter, 5.5 cm high, case diameter 5.2 cm
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- Verge Escapement - A verge escapement is an early mechanical escapement used in clocks and other timekeeping devices. It is an early form of the escapement mechanism, which is used to regulate the movement of the hands of a clock or watch. The verge escapement consists of a vertical shaft called the verge, which is mounted on the clock's main plate. Attached to the verge are two pallets, which engage with the teeth of the escape wheel. As the escape wheel turns, the pallets alternately lock and release it, allowing the movement of the clock to be regulated. The verge escapement was widely used in early mechanical clocks, but it was eventually replaced by the more accurate and reliable anchor escapement.
- Bezel - On a clock or watch, the bezel is the metal frame into which the watch or clock glass is fitted. In clocks, the bezel may include a hinge and a flange, in effect a door to the face of the clock. In jewellery the bezel is a band of metal with a projecting lip that holds the gemstone in its setting.
- Fusee - The fusee movement was used in clocks and pocket watches from the mid 17th century. The fusee is a cone shaped drum within the works that is linked to the barrel of the spring, usually by a length of chain.
As the mainspring loses its tension over time, the cone shaped barrel compensates for this by increasing the tension, by pulling the mainspring tighter, thus ensuring the time remains constant.
Use of the fusee in clocks was superseded by the "going barrel" in the mid 19th century and for pocket watches at the beginning of the 19th century.
The fusee continued to be used in marine chronometers until the 1970s. - Barrel (in a Clock) - In a clock or watch, the barrel is a cylindrical component that stores the energy from the mainspring. As the mainspring is wound, it stores energy in the barrel. As the clock or watch runs, the energy is gradually released from the barrel, turning the clock's gears and keeping the time.
The barrel is typically located near the centre of the movement (the mechanism that powers the clock) and is connected to the center wheel, which drives the rest of the gears. The barrel typically has teeth on its outer surface that mesh with the gears in the movement, allowing it to transmit energy to the rest of the clock. Some barrels are designed to be wound by hand, while others are automatically wound by the motion of the wearer's arm. - Rosette - A stylised circular-shaped disk with turned or carved decoration decoration applied to a surface, or carved into the surface, especially used in ceramics, jewellery, furniture, sculpture and textiles. Also known as a boss or a paterae or patera.
- Date Aperture - A date aperture is a cut out section in the face of a watch or clock, displaying the day of the month.
- Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
- Movement - The technical name for the workings of a clock or watch, and does not include the dial or case.
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